LONG POND, Pa. — Gio Ruggiero (No. 18 First Auto Group Toyota) scored his fourth ARCA Menards Series win of the season in Friday’s Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150 at Pocono Raceway.
Ruggiero led 51 of the race’s 60 laps, taking the lead for the final time on a restart at lap 25. Ruggiero also won earlier this season at Daytona International Speedway, Kansas Speedway, and last Friday at Michigan International Speedway.
“I thought we were good in practice, but didn’t know we were going to be that quick,” Ruggiero said. “That was definitely domination, not by me, but by this whole No. 18 crew. Everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing works so hard and I’m just proud to be part of the group.
“It’d be really cool if JGR could sweep the whole weekend and I had to be the one to start it.”
Bounty Rookie Challenge contender Gavan Boschele (No. 25 ShopGavan.com Toyota) finished a career-best second but 14.342 seconds behind Ruggiero after drawing the second caution flag of the day with a flat left-rear tire on the backstretch.
The flat tire resulted in damage to the left rear fender but did not slow the car on the track. In his four starts this season, Boschele has a second, two third-place finishes at Watkins Glen International and Michigan, and a fourth-place at Kansas Speedway.
Phoenix Raceway winner Carson Brown (No. 28 Distributor Wire and Cable Chevrolet) finished third in his first ARCA Menards Series start on a track larger than one mile. In addition to his victory at Phoenix, Brown as a runner-up finish at Watkins Glen and a pair of third-place finishes, one at Toledo Speedway and the other today at Pocono.
ARCA Menards Series championship points leader Jake Bollman (No. 20 Nitro Motorsports Toyota) finished fourth, his fifth top-five finish of the season and seventh in the top ten. Bollman unofficially leads the standings by 27 points over his Nitro Motorsports teammate Thomas Annunziata (No. 70 JBL Toyota), who finished sixth.
Lanie Buice (No. 77 Sunoco Chevrolet) became the seventh female driver to earn a Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole in ARCA Menards Series history when she turned the fastest lap in qualifying. Buice led the first lap and ran in the top five all afternoon before finishing fifth. It is her third consecutive fifth-place finish; she also finished fifth at Kansas and Michigan earlier this season.
Daniel Dye (No. 24 Champion Container Chevrolet) finished seventh after leading six laps early in the race. It was Dye’s fourth top-ten finish of the season in five starts.
